BUCYRUS – The old Schine’s Theater building in downtown Bucyrus, once a prime arts destination for the city, then later an eyesore and finally a public health threat, will be torn down starting Tuesday or Wednesday, city and state officials announced Thursday morning.

“This will be an emergency raze demolition because the asbestos is friable, meaning it has moved from its original location,” J.D. Jones of the Ohio Regional Development Corporation said during a pre-demolition meeting in Bucyrus City Council chambers. “It will be what is called a hot demolition, which is extremely rare.”

Rather than occurring before the actual demolition, the asbestos abatement will be contained within it, with the city’s fire department watering down the site, at the southeast corner of South Sandusky Avenue and East Warren Street, until the entire structure is brought to the ground and contained.

South Sandusky and East Warren will be closed for the extent of the demolition, probably into next weekend, with East Warren likely off limits for a bit longer.

Detours through downtown will be set up that will be identical to those in use during the Bratwurst Festival in August.

“Parking is going to be a challenge through some of this,” said Eunice Collene, administrative assistant for the city’s mayor and service-safety director and the point person within the administration on the theater demolition.

Significantly, the city received an OK from the Ohio EPA this week to proceed with the combination demolition/asbestos abatement.

The asbestos, a carcinogenic material, is so widespread in the building, primarily contained within the acoustic panels, that to remove it before beginning demolition would have been prohibitively expensive.

The contract for the “hot demo” was awarded earlier this month to Moderalli Excavating of Poland, Ohio, near Youngstown, for $396,200. The city had estimated the project would cost $400,000.

The demolition has been made possible with a pair of state grants, with the city responsible for raising in-kind funds. When they were notified by the state earlier this summer that they were $88,000 short, city officials went literally door to door through downtown in an attempt to raise the funds from businesses. A gift of $50,000 from the Ohio Mutual Insurance Group put the city over the top.

For months, Collene has pledged to have the building torn down before the Bratwurst Festival begins in four weeks, a goal that now appears to be within reach.

“The passion here in this city to get this down and get the grant funding has been incredible,” Barbara Richards of the ORDC said at Thursday’s meeting.

About 30 people, many of them downtown business owners, attended the gathering. Representatives from Wendy’s, just southwest of the theater, and Midwest Furniture, immediately adjacent to the site, remained after the meeting to discuss issues specific to their businesses. Midwest Furniture owner Doug Godwin lives above his store, and asked if he needed to get a hotel room next week (he doesn’t).

Wendy’s will remain open during the demolition, with vehicles allowed access into the restaurant’s parking lot. Richards noted that the business may also receive an abundance of foot traffic as people come by to watch the demolition.

Spectators won’t be allowed to get any closer than across South Sandusky Avenue. The fire department suggested that anyone caught attempting to take a brick or other item from the demolition site be cited for theft. Obtaining souvenirs will be prohibited.

“No part of the building can be taken away. The entire building is asbestos,” Jones said.

The site will misted down during the demolition to keep any dust from rising.

“There will be sufficient watering so there won’t be any fibers. The workers will have personal air monitors, and they’re not just for them. The air quality should be fine,” Jones said.

Once the structure is razed, five to 10 trucks will cart the material away in leak-proof, double-lined containers to a site in Fostoria, a process that will likely take weeks.

The contractor will begin prep work on the site Monday, with the actual demolition beginning a day or two later. Nobody at Thursday’s meeting was prepared to say precisely when it will be finished.

“It depends on gravity,” Collene said.

The art deco Schine's Theater, promoted as fireproof when it opened on Valentine’s Day 1936 at a cost of $100,000, was originally owned by the Latvian brothers Junius and Louis Schine, based in Gloversville, N.Y., who operated about 100 rural movie houses at one time.

The Schines sold the Bucyrus theater in 1968 to Earl Yerrick, who sold it to Charles M. Stewart and Harold Thompson in the 1970s. It then closed in 1977, the beginning of a challenging era for downtown movie theaters as modern cineplex construction began to take off, offering the advantage of several screens in one location.

And yet the Bucyrus theater reopened just one year later, with Alan Teicher leasing the building from Blackford and Hord’s Bucyrus Development Co., which had bought it at a sheriff’s sale in 1976. In 1981, the theater was divided to allow for two screens in an attempt to compete with the cineplexes.

Then came an electrical fire in 1991, which caused extensive smoke damage but didn’t impair the structural integrity of the building. Nevertheless, the theater never opened again.

A serious effort was made beginning in 2007, spearheaded by Bucyrus resident Joe Armbruster. But attempts to place the theater on the National Register of Historic Places failed, and deterioration of the building accelerated once the roof gave way. The restoration effort was declared dead by the city in 2013.

The latest plans for the site call for the construction of an open-air park suitable for a variety of arts events. Collene said work could begin on the project this fall.